However prideful Gary Sheffield may be, he’s not arrogant enough to assert the Mets wouldn’t be in this pitiful predicament if they’d traded for him two winters ago. But he says he’s made a difference everywhere he’s gone, and would’ve made a difference in Flushing, too.

The All-Star outfielder went 3-for-4 with two runs scored last night to help first-place Atlanta to a 7-3 win, and a 17-game lead over the last-place Mets in the NL East. Remember, the Amazin’s could’ve had him in 2002 for just Armando Benitez. Think they’d make that deal now?

“I’m a difference-maker,” Sheffield said. “We all like to say that, but if you don’t put up numbers then you’re not a difference-maker. Every lineup I’ve been in, I’ve adjusted, and did what I had to do. It wouldn’t have been [any] different here.

“I know it’s tougher to play in New York, I know it’s more scrutinized, I know people are watching – but that’s when I’m at my best. That’s how I’ve been all my life; New York brings out the best in me.”

Clearly. Using all fields, he singled to right and scored in the first, singled to center in the third, and doubled down the line and scored in the sixth. And he’d come into the night fourth in the NL in hitting (.327), third in runs (68) and fifth in RBI (68).

And unlike so many stars, he hungered to play at Shea Stadium after watching his uncle, Doc Gooden, and his swaggering Mets bully the rest of the NL.

“Everybody that came here, they were scared when they came in here,” Sheffield said. “You look at [Darryl] Strawberry and Kevin Mitchell and all those bad boys, nobody wanted to come in here and play them.”

The Mets could’ve regained that bravado by dealing for Sheffield, but Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile advised against it. The club refused L.A.’s request for Mike Piazza or Edgardo Alfonzo, and even one for Benitez and Jay Payton.

Instead they insulted L.A. with an offer of Rich Rodriguez, Darryl Hamilton and Dennis Cook. Please. That wouldn’t get Sheffield’s shoes, much less his bat.

“For awhile I thought I was coming here; Charlie [Samuels, equipment manager] told me he’d printed out my jersey,” Sheffield said. “There was a lot of speculation that I would’ve fit perfectly, but they never made the deal.”